Mediation in Italy has for many years seemed like teenage sex — more people talk about it than actually do it, and those who do it, do it poorly.

And it has also been a target for humor, compassion, anti-lawyer spleen-venting, and constitutional mish-mash. It seems that every few months there is another statute, constitutional challenge, administrative edict or judicial pronouncement.

Our good (and good-humored) friend Giuseppe De Palo has directed our attention to a new article on the topic, summarizing the status of things (at least for now — don’t blink). It opens with a quotation from Machiavelli and closes with a comment citing Shakespeare. So you know it’s erudite, at least. And coming from Sr. De Palo, it can hardly be more authoritative.